Fellow Gannett Co. newspaper Federal Times is reporting that the Pentagon would have to furlough “virtually all” of its nearly 800,000 civilian employees for one month between March and September if mandatory federal spending cuts go into effect in March, according to a highly respected defense budget analyst.

In other words, just kicking the sequestration can from Jan. 2 to March 1 isn’t much delaying some potentially very bad news for government civilians.

“This will have a very real impact if [sequestration] goes into effect,” Todd Harrison of the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said during a Jan. 9 briefing in Washington, according to Fed Times. “One of the first things we’ll see, DoD will have to start furloughing civilian employees.”

Unless modified, the automatic cuts in discretionary and mandatory spending demanded by the Budget Control Act of 2011 from 2013-2021 will total as much as $1.2 trillion. That’s on top of the $2.1 trillion the law’s spending changes are estimated to produce between 2012-2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

In the short term, the news gets even tougher.

Under the deal agreed to by President Obama and Congress, this year’s defense cuts were reduced from $63 billion to $48 billion. But since they are to kick in two months later, DoD has only seven months – to the end of this fiscal year – to implement them.

Those in uniform will escape the brunt of the cuts – eventual drawdown possibilities excepted. President Obama last summer exempted troops from cuts in pay, benefits or change of station travel costs. They would be affected by delays in weapons maintenance, since at least some could be forced to make do with less or nothing to maintain their units’ combat effectiveness.

Any cancellations of maintenance for ships, aviation and ground vehicles should wait until at least Feb. 15, said Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, according to Bloomberg.